Media Meditation 5: RSS Feed Makes Nothing Unseen, Even In the Internet’s Sea Of Information

With the Internet enabling us to have an unlimited and constant flow of information, it is easy to get lost in the sea of words, sounds, and images. It is hard to sift through the information to find specifically what they are looking for. Because of this there is a desire for a tool to organize this sea of words, images, and sounds. Up until recently I had no idea what an RSS feed was, and when I found out I was required to get one for my CCM 315 class with Dr. Rob Williams I was a bit overwhelmed. Luckily it was very simple to install and easy to learn how to use. There are different RSS feeds to choose from depending on the computer a person has and which program he or she likes the best in terms of how it is organized and how you use it. I have a mac computer and was recommended to use NewsFire as my RSS feed, which works well with my computer. To install it, all there is to do is go to the NewsFire website and download the free version of their RSS feed. Using an RSS feed is very easy. It’s organized into columns according to the topics selected to receive new information on them if any are published. When there is new information on the topic it is sent to your RSS feed and you can click on the article if you are interested in reading it. So you know there is new information a notification pops up, which can be set to notify you every time something new happens, every few hours, or once a day depending on what you want.
The RSS feed is very similar to the feed M.T. Anderson discusses in his book, Feed. In the book anyone can seek new information at all times and they are constantly updated on different happenings, and topics, just like the RSS feed. Their feed also organizes all of the information they receive, which is another characteristic of the RSS feed. Overall I think an RSS feed is very useful if you want to be up to date on any topic or issue and will definitely help you stay more informed than the people around you and get ahead of your competitors. For example, over the summer I will be interning on the campaign for Anne Marie Buerkle who is running for congress, so set her as a person to receive information on in my RSS feed. I am given constant updates on anything that has to do with her so I am always up to date on the most recent news on her campaign or anything that happens in her life. I also set up an RSS feed on her competitor Dan Maffei, so I am given the most recent news on him, which helps me learning information and devise plans to help stay ahead of him.

Tribune Brain: RSS Feeds mostly engage the Neocortex part of the brain, as a person must read through the articles in each category to organize and learn information. Once they click on the headline that brings them to the new information, the people must use their Neocortex to process and understand the information because it is gained through reading. There aren’t any pictures or sounds on RSS Feeds, which are strong tools that are usually used to engage the Limbic brain. The only pictures and sounds that people experience are with the new information that they are directed to.

7 Principles…

Individual meaning: This media may contain the principle of individual meaning as people can interpret its purpose differently. Some may see it as a tool to keep them informed on the latest information on a topic or issue, or as a way to make educated decisions through being constantly updated with new information. It can also been seen as an organizational tool to help people organize the endless information that is on the internet since it only brings up sources that relate to a specific topic. Another way RSS Feeds can be seen is a form of entertainment as it can provide people with information not to educate them, but on topics that amuse them and that they only care about for entertainment purposes. This idea is expressed in Neil Postman’s book, Amusing Ourselves To Death as most people use the media to seek information for entertainment. It can also been seen as a useless tool that is not needed. Some people may view it this way because they may not want to be constantly updated on a topic and believe that if they did want to be updated they could find that information by themselves.


Eight Shifts…

Technological Shift- there is a technological shift from analog to digital with the RSS Feed. This is because it is used on a personal computer, and a person cannot receive the data anywhere else.

Personal Shift- Personal shift occurs with the RSS Feed as it is both personal and participatory. It is personal because a person can set their RSS feed to be custom to them as he/she has control of what they want to receive information and how often they want to be notified on that information. It participatory because a person must actively engage in setting up their RSS feed and has the ability to view the information whenever and as often as he/she wants.

Cultural Shift- There is a great deal of cultural shift with the RSS Feed. There is a lack of privacy for people as any new information on them can be shown to others through the RSS feed. In my case this is true with Anne Marie Buerkle in that anything new about her will show up in my RSS feed for me to view.


Persuasion Techniques…

Group Dynamics- although RSS feeds do not use words such as “us” and “we” it does provide a sense of togetherness. When a person constantly receives information on a topic of their choice through the feed, it can make him/her feel as if he/she is apart of the community surrounding that topic.
Simple Solution- RSS Feeds can be seen as using the persuasion technique of simple solutions by providing the program as a simple solution to gaining and organizing information from the internet without having to spend the extra time to find the specific source needed.

Diversion- it can also be seen as using diversion through being viewed as a tool that takes attention away from the negative points of view about the internet providing too much information to sort through, and therefore is useless.